Actor arrested for trying to extort money from Delhi businessman

New Delhi, Jan 3 (IANS) A former TV and Bollywood actor and his aide were arrested in the capital for allegedly making threatening calls posing as underworld don Chhotta Shakeel’s henchman to extort money from a Delhi based businessman, the police said Saturday. Aslam Ansari, 31, and Phool Singh, 25, were demanding Rs.5 million from the south Delhi garment exporter, and were arrested Thursday, the police said.

The businessman complained to the Delhi Police Anti-Extortion Cell saying “he has been receiving several threatening calls from a person identifying himself as Badshah, a henchman of Chhotta Shakeel”, deputy commissioner of police (crime) Neeraj Thakur told reporters.

The police didn’t reveal the name of the businessman.

According to Thakur, the extortionists kept making calls and sending SMSes since November last to the complainant asking him to arrange the money, else face dire consequences.

“All the calls were made from a mobile phone registered in Mumbai and the caller was speaking in a Mumbai-like dialect. Through electronic surveillance, the location of the phone was traced to a house in west Delhi,” Thakur said.

The police arrested the duo from Ansari’s house.

Ansari, a Delhi University graduate, began his career as sales executive and later shifted to Mumbai for a break in Bollywood.

He worked in a Bollywood movie - “Woh Tere Naam” - and many TV serials before he returned to Delhi to start a garment business last year.

The TV serials include “Kahin Kissi Roz”, “Sahab Biwi Ka Ghulam” and “Kashish”. He got a lead role in “Khuni Khanjar” but the film could not be completed.

“He started a garment factory and Singh joined him as a supervisor. Before coming to Ansari’s factory, Singh was working in the garment company run by the complainant,” Kumar said.

Facing huge losses in the business, the duo planned to extort money from the complainant whom Singh knew very well, said the police.